‘Will Not Make an Issue’, Is Congress Pulling Out of PM Race?

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday was quoted, "My party high command has already made it clear that the Congress is not averse to making a leader from any regional party the Prime Minister.”

New Delhi: The Congress party seems to be pulling all stops to bar the Modi-Shah juggernaut from flashing the victory sign this Lok Sabha contest that will conclude on May 19 and throw a fresh mandate on May 23. The Grand Old Party has refuelled its efforts to bring all Opposition parties onboard in full vigour and prepare for ‘any eventuality’ on May 23.

A few days ago, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had met Congress president Rahul Gandhi at his residence in the national capital and was believed to have discussed the post-poll scenario and more or less agreed to call a meeting of Opposition parties on May 21.

According to reports, their meeting aimed at deciding the plan of action, in case the May 23 results throw a fractured mandate. It is believed that the Opposition meet tentatively scheduled for May 21 will chart out the strategy to approach the President in view of an unclear majority and stake claim to form a government first.

On the other hand, making a startling remark while addressing a press conference in Shimla, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday was quoted by The Hindu, “My party high command has already made it clear that the Congress is not averse to making a leader from any regional party the Prime Minister.”

His statements come in tow of his earlier remarks that Congress ‘will not make an issue’ if the Prime Minister’s post is not offered to the party.

“The party will not stand on prestige if a coalition government is formed at the Centre with parties that are anti-BJP and the Congress will be a part of it,” he said, adding that his party wanted to oust the “anti-people, anti-farmer, anti-labourer and anti-economy” BJP regime.

Azad, the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said neither the BJP nor the NDA would come to power at the Centre.

Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, “Modi is the first PM in the world to have spent 60 per cent of his five years in foreign trips… 90 per cent of the BJP campaign was led by Modi.”

In his earlier remarks, Azad did not talk of a Congress-led UPA government but a non-NDA government, indicating that the Congress will reach out to every party outside the National Democratic Alliance’s fold to form a government.

He said that the party will go by the “common decision” of all such parties and will take initiative for leadership only if there is a consensus.